New figures from Kantar Public show Labour maintaining the three point lead they had held over the Conservatives in January but with both parties recording reduced shares.

The main beneficiaries of this decline have been the minor parties who have shown a significant increase in support.

At this stage the findings may simply be a one off blip but if they were to be repeated over the next two months it would indicate that candidates for the smaller parties may do better than expected in the local elections on May 3rd.